When spillage of oil, gasoline or other similar materials occurs on land, the contaminant often escapes into storm drains which can result in costly clean-up, contamination of navigable water ways, underground contamination, the presence of explosive vapors in the storm drain system and possible threats to human health and the environment. Such spills often occur when a tanker truck is involved in an accident and its container compartment ruptures spilling its liquid contents into the environment or when a stationary storage container ruptures for some reason. If the spill is a "contained" spill, i.e. not able to flow into the drainage system, the contaminant or other spilled fluid is typically sprayed with water to "float" as much spilled contaminant as possible from the surface of the ground to minimize absorption. Thereafter, a recovery vehicle can vacuum up as much of the spilled contaminant and water as possible. However, as is often the case, the spill is an "uncontained" spill and the contaminant flows, via gravity, toward and into a drainage opening, such as a storm drain or sewer pipe, where it escapes directly into the sewer system without any treatment. The flow rate of the contaminant may be increased when the contaminant is mixed with water such as from rain, hail or melting snow. It is possible to prevent the contaminant and the water from entering the sewer system by forming a dam with sand bags or the like around the inlet of the storm drain. However, such procedure is time consuming, labor intensive and not practical in all instances.
Wherefore, it is a primary object of the invention to provide a flow regulator for a drainage inlet which allows a liquid contaminant and water to collect around the drainage inlet so that the contaminant can be easily recovered.
A further object of the invention is to provide a device which is relatively simple to manufacture and operate and performs satisfactorily in collecting a liquid contaminant.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a device which allows, once a sufficient quantity of a liquid mixture has collected, the heavier density fluid (e.g. the water) to flow into a drainage inlet while maintaining the lighter density liquid (e.g. the contaminant) floating on the surface of the collected mixture.
The above and other objects of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the invention is better understood.